Automatic musical instrument.



E. A. PETERS.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED .auem 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Fiql.

W}, W hY 9 ATTEIRNEYE Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

E. A. PETERS.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.7. 1914.

1 286392, Patented Dec. 3, L918.

2 5HEET$-SHEET 2- Fi Ii.

///// 4' lIIIIlIIIIIIIl- IIII4M% IIIIIIIII/IIIIII S III v /7 WiTNEEIElEi: a 'NVENTE'R W 5. M

FATTEI RNEYEJ EDWARD AUGUST PETERS, 61 NORTH TONAW'ANDA, NEW

YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE RUDOLPH WURLITZER MANUFAOTURING COMPANY, OF NORTH TONAW'ANDA. HEIV YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Application filed August 7, 1914.

'tomatio Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification. This invention relates to planos and similar instruments having one or more pipestops, such as violin or flute pipes, or other' auxiliary sound-producing devices.

The piano-action is commonly played automatically by striker pneumatlcs connected with a suction'wind chest, while the stops .are connected with a separate pressure chest containing valves or pallets controlled by series of motor pneumatics, such instruments being so organized that the piano can be played alone or in concert with one or more of the stops.

It is the main object of my invention to simplify the connections between the piano and stop-sections of the instrument, in order to reduce its cost of manufacture and facilitate the assemblage and repair of the parts.

A further object is to so construct the wind chest of the piano action that it is adaptable to ordinary automatic pianos without such pipe-stops, as well as pianos having stops.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section of a piano en1- bodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary rear view of the main wind chest, showing some of the striker-pneumati s in section. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line 33, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section on line 4-4, Fig. 3.

Similar characters of referen e indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

1 indicates the hammers of the piano-aw tion which latter may be of any ordinary construction and constitutes the main sound producing parts of the instrument. 2 indicates the usual keys for playing the piano manually, and 3 the abstracts which are engaged at their lower ends bv the keys.

4: indicates the motor or striker-pneumati s for playing the piano automatically. In the construction shown, these pnelnati s are secured to the rear side of the main or pianoaction wind chest 5, their upper boards be- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 3, 1918. Serial No. 855,557.

ing fixed and their lower movable boards having arms 6 which engage verti ally-adjustable buttons 7 carried by lugs 8 projecting from the front sides of the abstra: ts The striker-pneumatics are arranged in a number of tiers, and in staggered relation for compactness. The lugs 8 of adjacent abstracts are arranged at different elevations corresponding to the respective pneun'iatics, as best shown in Figs. 3 and t. The upward movement of the movable board of ea'h striker pneumatic is limited by an adjustable stop-button 9 carried by its upper fixed board.

The main or su tion wind hest 5 contains a pneumatic action of any suitable construction which controls the striker-pneumatrs t. It has the usual suction chamber 10 connected with the cus omary pump or main suction bellows ll whih is operated bv an electric or other suitable motor 12. As is common in such pneumatic a'tions, each striker-pneumatic is connected by a passage 13 with a valve-chamber 14. This ch mber is connected by a port 15 with the main suction-chamber 10 and by a port 16 with the outer atmosphere, these ports being controlled by the usual suction and flushing valves 17 and 18. both mounted on valvestem 19 actuated by the usual prim ry pneumatic 20. To this primary pneumatic leads the du t 21 forming a continuation of the tube 22 onne-ted with a duct of the tracker board 23. As is well understood. when a perforation of the music sheet registers with a tracker duct, the valves 17 and 18 are shifted to he proper position to collapse the corresponding striker-pneumatic and operate the compauion piano-hammer. while when the perforation breaks register with said duct. the valves are shifted in the opposite direction by a spring 24;, flushing the striker pneumatic and allowing it to expand.

25 indicates the auxiliary or pressurechest of the instrument with which are combined a number of stops or auxiliary sound producinq de ices uch as vio n and flute pipes 26 and 27. This chest and the devices for controlling the admission of compressed air to the pipes may be of any suitable or well known construction. In the example shown, this chest is located on the rear side of the piano-case and is of ordinary construction. 28 indicates the pressure chamher connected with the usual pressure-bellows 29 by the tube 30, and 31 one of the valves or spring-pressed pallets arranged in said chamber and controlling the passage 32 leading to the corresponding pair of violin and flute pipes 26, 27. 33 indicates the customarystop-slides which maybe operated by any suitable means.

Each of the pallets 31 is controlled by a motor-pneumatic 34 preferably applied to the back of the pressure-chest and operating to open said pallet through a rod 35 guided in said chest. The chamber of each of these pallet-pneumatics is connected by a a tube or conduit 36 with the chamber of the strikerpneumatic representing the corresponding tone. In thepreferred construction illustrated in the drawings, the lower end of this tube is connected with a channel 37 leading to the interior of the pallet-pneumatic, while its upper end is attached to a nozzle or short-tube 38 secured to andpassing-through the. upper fixed board of the striker pneumatic. iliary passage independent of the main passage 13 of saidstriker pneumatic.

By pneumatically connecting the palletpneumatics with the striker-pneumatic the former are'obviously collapsed and inflated in unison with the latter, being exhausted and flushed through the striker pneumatics and the valve chambers 14, thus dispensing with separate valve mechanism for exhausting and flushing the palletpneumatics and correspondingly simplifying and reducing lhis tube forms an auxnew 402 the cost of the instrument and facilitating the assemblage and repair of the parts.

This construction has the further advantage that the main or piano action chest may without reconstruction be used in automatic pianos having no pipe stops, as well as those supplied with stops, it being only necessary in the former case to plug the nozzles 38. The piano-action chest can thus be manufactured as a standard one applicable to a variety of instruments of this character.

I claim as my invention:

In an instrument of the character described, thecombination of a main Wind chest containing a suction chamber, a valve chamber connected with the atmosphere by a.

flushing ort and with said suction chamber by an ez iaust port, valve mechanism controlling said ports, a main pneumatic having its fixed board provided with independent main and auxiliary passages, said main passage connecting the pneumatic with said valve chamber, an auxiliary wind chest, a controlling valve in the last-named chest, an auxiliary pneumatic for actuating said controlling valve, and a conduit connected at one end with the chamber of said auxiliary A pneumatic and at its other end to the auxiliarypassage ofsaid main pneumatic. L

Witnessmy hand this 3rd day of August,

EDWARD AUGUST PETERS.

Witnesses: z I

WALTER H. WENDELL, AUGUST DE KLEIST.

Copieaof this patent may be obtained Ijor five cents each, by addressing the Gomm'issioner of Patents.-

' Washington, D. C." 

